Hot iron held on woman's stomach, jury told

A Hamilton man allegedly held a hot iron to his partner's stomach as well as assaulting, kidnapping and raping her.

The accused is defending all but one of the charges and said the woman "just wants to hurt" him.

The accused, in his early 20s, appeared in the Hamilton District Court yesterday on nine charges relating to alleged incidents between late 2010 and September last year.

He and his former partner cannot be named for legal reasons.

He faces five charges of assaulting his former partner, also in her early 20s, and one charge each of kidnapping, injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (alternatively, injuring with intent to injure), threatening to do grievous bodily harm, and rape.

The accused pleaded not guilty to all but one charge of assaulting his former partner late in 2011.

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The woman took the witness stand on Tuesday and told the jury of seven women and five men the man burned her stomach with a hot iron in August last year when he became angry during an argument.

"He was just irritated and frantic, just angry," she said.

"I went into our bedroom and he followed me with an iron."

She said he threw her on the bed, forced her down and held the hot iron on her stomach.

She described the pain as "excruciating", and said the heat caused her skin to peel and left a scar.

He also threatened to burn her face, she said.

However, when he realised what he had done he dropped the iron and paced around the room before getting a bag of frozen peas to put on the burn, she said.

When the accused gave evidence yesterday, he said it was the woman who hit him on the head with the iron during the argument.

He pushed her on to the bed and when he pulled the iron from her hand it accidentally made contact with her stomach.

The woman also told the court about an alleged incident in September last year when she was woken by the accused man shaking her leg while sleeping on a couch at his parents' house.

She said he had been drinking and smoking synthetic cannabis and wanted to have sex but she was exhausted and told him to "get lost".

"I was so tired and I was in pain," she said. She claimed that the accused raped her but he said that this never happened.

"She's just making this up.

"She's trying to get at me," he told the court.

The woman also testified about several alleged assaults, including one when she claims the accused man kicked her in the side of her stomach causing her to fall to the ground in agony.

"I was in so much pain, I thought my ribs were broken," she said.

In her closing address, Crown prosecutor Jacinda Foster said the woman still loved the accused and did not appear to have an axe to grind.

Defence lawyer Russell Boot closed by saying that the accused's decision to give evidence and be cross-examined suggested he had nothing to hide.